KALAMAZOO — After playing the rival Fort Wayne Komets just twice in their first 29 games, the Kalamazoo Wings suddenly find themselves in a playoff series type of schedule that will have an immediate impact on the ECHL North Division standings.

Of their last four games, all in the past week, three have been against the Komets and there’s still one more at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Fort Wayne (15-11-4-4) is in fourth place in the North, just one point behind the third-place K-Wings (18-13-1-2).

“These games against Fort Wayne are most important,” K-Wings forward Matt Firman said. “They’re right behind us in the standings and they’re scratching and clawing to get at us. The more separation we can put between ourselves and them, every point is crucial at the end of the year.”

Firman should know the Komets well. After playing in Fort Wayne last year, he played 11 games with them this season before being waived.

“It just didn’t work out with them,” he said. “I was released. Then maybe five days later I got a call from Chaulker (K-Wings assistant coach Colin Chaulk), who I played with last year, saying they needed a body to fill in and here I am.”

Colin Chaulk

Chaulk played in Fort Wayne for 10 seasons, including last year, before retiring as a player to begin his coaching career.

“I only played like 20 games last year, but the games I played with Matt, I know he’s the right person,” Chaulk said. “He plays the right way, meaning he’s a warrior. He blocks shots, he stops on pucks, he’s a good person. I know the success I had as a player, we may not have had the best players but we had the best people. We had good men. I saw that in Matt right away.”

Chaulk said he and K-Wings coach Nick Bootland talked about Firman and made the decision together to sign him.

“I’m happy for him,” Chaulk said of Firman. “He’s had a tough go. He scored 14 or 15 goals as a rookie in the ECHL with no power-play time. He was a role guy coming out of D-1 college in Colgate. I think he worked hard this summer and he was ready to accept more of a regular role and to contribute more in Fort Wayne. Fortunately for us, that didn’t work out.”

Firman, who is from Syracuse, N.Y., played four years at Colgate, graduating with a degree in biology before turning pro last year.

Bootland said while he was at the AHL’s Chicago Wolves training camp in September, he noticed Firman.

Nick Bootland

“He hurt us a few times last year, the way he drove the net,” Bootland said. “The biggest thing for him, he’s a great penalty killer and he has unbelievable defensive awareness.

“You need a guy like that who plays that role. He takes pride in that role and he works hard and he kills those penalties with that passion.”

Firman and Chaulk shared an emotional moment when the K-Wings played at Allen County Memorial Coliseum last Wednesday, their first game at Fort Wayne this season.

“It was a funny feeling (going back),” Firman said. “I got in there and all the equipment guys were in there. I got to say ‘Hi’ to them. It was definitely funny being on the opposite side of the rink. I felt a little disoriented at first, but as the game starts, you get right into it and it’s just another game.”

It helped that the K-Wings had already hosted the Komets twice before the trip down I-69.

“It was funny because my first game as a K-Wing was against Fort Wayne right after Thanksgiving,” he said. “It was so weird. I had to kind of step back and get my head into the game. At the end of the day, you’re playing a hockey game and two points are on the line.”

It was fitting that Firman’s first goal of the season came last Saturday at Wings Stadium, sparking the K-Wings to a 2-1 overtime win against the Komets. Justin Taylor scored the game-winner.

Chaulk also said it was emotional returning to the coliseum.

Nick Sirota

“It was tough going back, for sure,” he said. “A lot of memories there. I’m very thankful for the fans and the community and I still reside there today. For sure, it was tough, but I’m definitely glad we won (3-2 in overtime last Wednesday).

“The boys obviously know it was a big game for me personally. When you’re standing behind the bench, there’s not much you can do. You have to ask them to do a lot of hard things. Fortunately they did that.”

Unfortunately, the K-Wings lost, 4-2, at Fort Wayne on Sunday and are 3-2-0-0 against the Komets heading into Wednesday’s game.

The K-Wings also got some offensive help by signing forward Nick Sirota, who recently returned from playing hockey with the Frisk Asker Tigers in Norway.

In his previous two seasons with the K-Wings, Sirota had a total of 44 goals and 42 assists for 86 points.

“He’s got a great shot and he works hard,” Bootland said of Sirota. “He should help our power play. He’s scored a power-play goal for us already. It’s going to take a little while to get his legs going because he’s been off such a long period of time after Norway. It’s been three weeks or more that he hasn’t skated, so he came in and had one practice, then right into four-in-five.”

“After this week and a couple games into next week, he’ll probably be playing more like himself. He’s a player we’ve had here in the past and he can score goals. We’ve been struggling to score goals and he’s scored 20-plus every year he’s been here.”